KUALA LUMPUR: Adiwiraku, the true story of a teacher who motivates her slow-learning students to excel, won Best Film at the 29th Malaysian Film Festival (FFM 29) on Saturday.
It earned Tamil drama actress Sangeetha Krishnasamy the Best Actress prize, and producer Jason Chong the Best Original Story.
Meanwhile, Redha, a touching family drama about a father and his autistic son, won big too and its director, Tunku Mona Reza, won Best New Director.
Shahili Abdan or Namron, who played the boy's father, won Best Actor while his wife June Lojong who played the boy's mother, won Most Promising Actress.
Harith Haziq, who played the autistic boy, won Best Child Actor while Diana Danielle won Best Supporting Actress for the period drama Hanyut.
The supernatural thriller Interchange also won big, taking home Best Director (Dain Said), Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction and Best Supporting Actor (Shaheizy Sam).
You Mean The World To Me, Malaysia's first Hokkien film, won Best Screenplay, Best Musical Score and Most Promising Actor (John Tan), while action comedy 'Abang Long Fadil 2' won the Box Office Award, with RM17.3 million in ticket sales.
Action drama J Revolusi won Best Editing.
Desolasi, Shuttle Life and Pekak won Special Jury Awards for highlighting the handicapped and their daily struggles, while producer Datuk Yusof Haslam won the Lifetime Achievement Award and Johan Ariffin won the Behind The Scenes Award.
A total of 53 films were entered - 41 in Bahasa Malaysia, 6 in Chinese, 5 in Tamil and one in English.
FFM 29 was held at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC), Jalan Putra, at 9pm on Saturday and Astro Ria was the official broadcaster.
More than 3,000 people attended the two-hour awards which was hosted by comedian Zizan Razak, actresses Nabila Huda Suhaimi and Thanuja Ananthan and singer Elizabeth Tan.
The award presenters included Datuk Norman Abdul Halim, Puan Sri Tiara Jacquelina, Osman Ali, Vanidah Imran, Fattah Amin, Fasha Sandha, and Faizal Hussein.
The performers included KRU, Aisyah Aziz, Mirwana, Unic, Salamiah Hassan, Atilia Haron, Shiha Zikir, and Akim And The Majistret.
The event was organised by the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas) and attended by Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak, his wife Datin Seri Raya Erom, Ministry secretary-general Tan Sri Sharifah Zarah Syed Ahmad, Finas chairman Datuk Mohd Khusairi Taib and Finas director-general Datuk Fauzi Ayob.